Mariners’ Slide Continues Drop One Game Below .500 As Wild Card Hopes Diminish
Those tail lights receding into the distance belong to the American League wild card race.
That unsightly lump left behind appears to be the Seattle Mariners, who lost again to the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday and seem on the verge of back-pedaling out of contention.
A night after one of the better right-handers in the league dominated them, a rookie left-hander with one victory in six major league starts handed the Mariners a 7-1 loss that dropped Seattle a game below .500.
Since battling their way into the playoff picture with an early-August winning streak, the Mariners have had the chance to catch - even to overtake - the Texas Rangers, who lead the wild card derby.
What’s happened isn’t pretty. Seattle’s loss Wednesday, when they were beaten for the fourth time on a homestand six games old, was the Mariners seventh in the last 11 games.
The clubhouse was filled with the usual cliches - backs to the wall, lots of baseball to be played, we’ve just got to snap out of it - but the bottom line was irrefutable.
The Mariners aren’t getting it done the only place it matters, which is on the field.
A revised lineup put men on base literally every inning against Baltimore but couldn’t produce the clutch hit needed to break through. Another rookie starting pitcher, right-hander Bob Wolcott, wobbled to an early departure and another left-hander in the Seattle bullpen, Lee Guetterman, made matters worse.
A smallish Kingdome crowd of 14,937 - supplemented by 717 bald and newly-bald Jay Buhner lookalikes, who were admitted free - took to booing early in this one and had little reason to stop.
Entering the night three games behind the Rangers in the wild card chase, the Mariners were tied with the Brewers, who had the day off, and a half game ahead of the New York Yankees, who had lost their fifth straight earlier in the day.
A win would have allowed Seattle to keep pace with the Rangers.
So the Mariners had all the necessary motivations and, out there on the mound, was Baltimore rookie Rick Krivda, a 25-year left-hander who had given up 11 home runs - and committed three balks - in 16 minor league starts.
Against him, the Mariners didn’t so much flail as look helplessly. Four of his nine strikeouts were called, and Krivda got Tino Martinez and Chris Widger three times.
Draft pick signs
The Mariners have signed 6-foot-7 right-hander Greg Wooten, their third-round pick from the June draft, the club announced.
Wooten, who pitched two seasons for Portland State, will report to the Mariners’ Arizona Instructional League team that starts workouts Sept. 16 in Peoria, Ariz.